The price of butter rose nearly 50 percent to the year ended May, Stats NZ data showed.
Dairy giant Fonterra’s boss Miles Hurrell sympathised with households feeling the pinch but said price increases were a reflection of supply not being able to keep up with demand.
Fonterra could not offer cheaper prices to local customers, he said.
Federated Farmers Dairy Industry Group chairperson Karl Dean said New Zealanders had to pay the market rate.
“We are lucky we get a premium product as our only option… the rest of the world would love to have grass-fed butter all the time,” he said.
“So it is good that we have that option, but all that we ask is that when the prices come down – which they will, they always do – that flows on through the supply chain.”
Dean believed Fonterra, wholesalers and supermarkets were doing their best to keep prices down.
But they needed to react quickly when contract milk prices changed, he said.
